No Safe Place
by DobbyRocksSocks
Summary: Safe. The word resonated in Kingsley's head. There was no safe place any more. Not now. His parents, his mum and dad, they had kept him safe. But they weren't here any more. Kingsley was on his own. Unsafe. Rated for character death.


**Disclaimer - I own nothing you recognise.**

**A/N - I'm not one hundred percent sure about the dates here, but wiki doesn't have Kingsley's age, it just says he was born before 1970. The first war ran from about 1970, so this will be set sometime around 1971. Warning for character death.**

**Written for Divination Assignment 7 - Write about death.**

**Written for the Duelling Competition Character Round 2 - Kingsley Shacklebolt.**

**Written for the Disney Character Competition - Mufasa (Kingsley) Prompt - Sounds**

**No Safe Place**

Kingsley was home for the summer when it happened. His third year at Hogwarts had been marred with the beginnings of war, and he was glad to be home with his family. News of death was in the paper everyday, the wireless was constantly stopping the music with breaking news of an attack or another death.

The wizarding world wasn't the safe place it had been. Not knowing who they could trust, Kingsley's parents wouldn't allow him out of the house, didn't go out themselves unless absolutely necessary. They were prisoners of fear, held to ransom in their own home. They tried to keep their fear from Kingsley, but he wasn't stupid. He wasn't a child any more.

Children didn't have the luxury of being children any more. The price of war was a high one for everyone.

The sun was shining through his bedroom window as he worked on his holiday homework. With nothing else to do, it was almost finished, and it was only the first week of the holiday. He didn't know what he would fill the rest with. Perhaps he could find a way to convince his mum and dad that they could talk in front of him. That they weren't saying anything he wasn't seeing in the paper every morning anyway.

The first indicator of anything wrong was the intruder alarms sounding through the house. They had been a new addition to their security, added sometime in the school year. Kingsley, having had the safety procedure drilled into him by his parents his first night home, grabbed his wand and crept from the room. He heard a scream from his mother, and his resolve to do as he had been told almost broke.

Instead, he continued his path to the hidden safe room, hidden by a bookcase in his fathers study. Revealing the door silently, he heard a shout from his father, and again he almost stopped what he was doing. He wanted to help. He wanted to save them. But he couldn't. He didn't know how. He slid into the safe room, closing the door behind him.

Crashes and bangs, more screaming and shouting, so much so that Kingsley covered his ears with his hands, not wanting to hear the sounds of his mother dying, not caring that he was behaving like a baby. He had sent the plea for help in patronus form to the Aurors, as he had been told to, and there was no more he could do. He knew that. It didn't help.

Laughter. Laughter that broke through the hands on his ears, and filled his head. A crack, followed by two more, and silence.

Kingsley waited for a few seconds. He was sure that was apparition. He was sure they were gone. But his parents told him to stay where he was until the Aurors arrived, or until they came to get him.

Should he go and find his parents? Was it safe? No.

But he left the safe room anyway.

His wand gripped in his hand so tightly, it almost snapped, he crept room to room looking for some sign of his mum and dad. When he found them, he wished he hadn't.

The sight would never leave him.

Their eyes, wide in terror but now unmoving.

Blood, splattered the walls, the floor, the furniture.

More cracks sounded outside the house, and Kingsley shook with fear. Auror's stormed into the room, passed Kingsley as they moved to his parents.

One, older than the others, placed a hand on Kingsleys shoulder and led him from the room.

"I'm sorry, son," the man said gently. "Was it you who sent the Patronus?"

Kingsley nodded. His parents. They told him to. They told him to send for help and hide. They told him.

"That's powerful magic for someone your age, you know," the Auror said, pushing Kingsley into a chair softly and sitting down beside him.

"I.. I couldn't... I mean.. That's the first time I made it... I made it work. My mum... she told me that when... when I needed it badly, it would work. She said, she said I'd be able to use it."

"Well, she was right, wasn't she? Can you tell me what happened, lad?"

"The, um, the alarms, the intruder alarms, they went off. When I come home, my mum, my mum and my dad, they told me what to do. They said that if I heard the alarm, I had to hide, hide in the safe room, and send for help. To you, I mean. They told me, and I did as I was told, but... well... but I should have helped them, shouldn't I? I should have saved them. They... they died... they're dead. I should have helped..." Kingsley stopped talking as his body shook with sobs.

He couldn't catch his breath enough to try and explain to the Auror why he hadn't helped his parents like he should have.

"You did the right thing, son. The people who did this, they're bad people. Really bad people. This wasn't your fault."

Kingsley shook his head in denial of the words that sounded so good but were so untrue. It was his fault. All his fault. He should have saved them.

"It's the truth. You couldn't have helped your parents. The Death Eaters, they would have hurt you too. Come on, lad, show me your room so we can collect some things. I'll take you somewhere safe to stay."

_Safe._

The word resonated in Kingsley's head. There was no safe place any more. Not now. His parents, his mum and dad, they had kept him safe. But they weren't here any more. Kingsley was on his own.

_Unsafe._


End file.
